Also of great importance to man is the control of pathological cellular proliferation such as that which occurs in the case of cancer. Considerable research and resources have been devoted to oncology and antitumor measures including chemotherapy. While certain methods and chemical compositions have been developed which aid in inhibiting, remitting, or controlling the growth of, for example, tumors, new methods and antitumor chemical compositions are needed.
In searching for new biologically active compounds, it has been found that some natural products and organisms are potential sources for chemical molecules having useful biological activity of great diversity. For example, the diterpene commonly known as taxol, isolated from several species of yew trees, is a mitotic spindle poison that stabilizes microtubules and inhibits their depolymerization to free tubulin (Fuchs, D. A., R. K. Johnson [1978] Cancer Treat. Rep. 62:1219-1222; Schiff, P. B., J. Fant, S. B. Horwitz [1979] Nature (London) 22:665-667). Taxol is also known to have antitumor activity and has undergone a number of clinical trials which have shown it to be effective in the treatment of a wide range of cancers (Rowinski, E. K. R. C. Donehower [1995] N. Engl. J. Med. 332:1004-1014). See also, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,157,049; 4,960,790; and 4,206,221.
Marine sponges have also proven to be a source of biologically active chemical molecules. A number of publications disclose organic compounds derived from marine sponges including Scheuer, P. J. (ed.) Marine Natural Products, Chemical and Biological Perspectives, Academic Press, New York, 1978-1983, Vol. I-V; Uemura, D., K. Takahashi, T. Yamamoto, C. Katayama, J. Tanaka, Y. Okumura, Y. Hirata (1985) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 107:4796-4798; Minale, L. et al. (1976) Fortschr. Chem. org. Naturst. 33:1-72; Faulkner, D. J. (1998)Natural Products Reports 15:113-158; Gunasekera, S. P., M. Gunasekera, R. E. Longley and G. K. Schulte (1990) "Discodermolide: A new bioactive polyhydroxy lactone from the marine sponge Discodermia dissoluta" J. Org. Chem., 55:4912-4915; (1991) J. Org. Chem. 56:1346; Hung, Deborah T., Jenne B. Nerenberg, Stuart Schreiber (1994) "Distinct binding and cellular properties of synthetic (+)- and (-)discodermolides " Chemistry and Biology 1:67-71; Hung, Deborah T., Jie Cheng, Stuart Schreiber (1996) (+)-Discodermolide binds to microtubules in stoichiometric ratio to tubulin dimers, blocks taxol binding and results in mitotic arrest" Chemistry and Biology 3:287-293; Nerenberg, Jennie B., Deborah T. Hung, Patricia K. Somers, Stuart L. Schreiber (1993) "Total synthesis of immunosuppressive agent (-)-discodermolide" J. Amer. Chem. Soc. 115:12621-12622; Smith III, Amos B., Yuping Qiu, David R. Jones, Karoru Kobayashi (1995) "Total synthesis of (-) discodermolide" J. Amer. Chem. Soc. 117:12011-12012; Harried, Scott H., Ge Yang, Marcus A. Strawn, David C. Myles (1997) "Total synthesis of (-)-discodermolide: an application of a chelation-controlled alkylation reaction" J. Org. Chem. 62:6098-6099 and references cited therein. U.S. Patent No. 4,808,590 discloses compounds, having antiviral, antitumor, and antifungal properties, isolated from the marine sponge Theonella sp.